Iconic Bethalto bridge scheduled for replacement, move after crash

A car passes over the Albers Lane bridge from Culp Lane in Bethalto Wednesday. Officials plan to move the narrow bridge to a different location and widen it to two lanes.

A car passes over the Albers Lane bridge from Culp Lane in Bethalto Wednesday. Officials plan to move the narrow bridge to a different location and widen it to two lanes.

Photo:

John Badman | The Telegraph

Photo:

John Badman | The Telegraph

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A car passes over the Albers Lane bridge from Culp Lane in Bethalto Wednesday. Officials plan to move the narrow bridge to a different location and widen it to two lanes.

A car passes over the Albers Lane bridge from Culp Lane in Bethalto Wednesday. Officials plan to move the narrow bridge to a different location and widen it to two lanes.

Photo:

John Badman | The Telegraph

Iconic Bethalto bridge scheduled for replacement, move after crash

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BETHALTO — Mayor Alan Winslow says a vehicle that hit the Albers Lane Bridge near Bethalto three or four weeks ago, closing the bridge for a week, served as a partial trigger for the village to have the bridge replaced.

Winslow said during the Nov. 12 village board meeting, the village passed a resolution to enter into an agreement with Oates & Associates to replace the current, one-lane bridge with a two-lane span, and to move the bridge to a different location over the Rocky Branch Creek. The current bridge is located near a curve where Culp Lane becomes Albers Lane.

Neither Winslow nor City Clerk Sue Lowrance knew current span’s age, but both emphasized that it’s old. Even without the recent collision and closure, Winslow said the bridge would have been replaced.

“It’s narrow; it has a poor appearance,” Winslow said.

The bridge has been covered almost completely with graffiti over the years.

“It’s held together with paint,” Lowrance quipped.

Winslow said the bridge’s new location has not been determined yet, as the decision will be based on a transportation engineering report that is not yet complete. While Winslow said he was told the replacement would occur in 2021, he said he will try to move that date forward.

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and the Madison County Transportation Department will have input on the new bridge, the mayor said.